Wired reported today that a free, online, Guitar Hero-like game called JamLegend will launch in a couple weeks.

JamLegend was designed by recent Claremont McKenna grads Arjun Lall, Andrew Lee, and Ryan Wilson and resembles the Guitar Hero mini-game below. The 1-5 keys are your fret buttons and the return key is your strummer.

Harder than it looks right? Last weekend, I revisited Guitar Hero II because I’m bored with III, punked the Aerosmith version in about one-and-a-half days, and find Rock Band pretty unchallenging. I had never successfully played “Free Bird” on Expert, but on Friday night, I KILLED IT. Yeah, I’m bragging (and, yeah, I’m also aware it’s pathetic that that’s how I spend my Friday nights), but the point is, while I can now play “Free Bird” on Expert, playing Guitar Hero on my computer is a whole lot harder. JamLegend promises all this and more; you’ll be able to battle people online and have access to a massive song catalog, since unknown artists are invited to upload their music to the game.

JamLegend is in private beta at the moment, but if you can sign up now to be notified when they go public. As if you needed more reasons to kill time at your computer!